When on-loan midfielder Mateo Kovacic made his debut last season for Chelsea against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, he immediately captured the attention of the Stamford Bridge faithful due to his mazy dribbling, close link-up play and tough tackling.
Coming on at 2-2, he added energy to the Chelsea midfield helping the Blues to take the victory against the Gunners, being part of the build-up play for Marcos Alonso’s late winning goal.
However, as the season progressed, Kovacic found it quite difficult adapting to both English football and manager Maurizio Sarri’s demanding style of play, finding himself battling for his place in the team with Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and his lack of threat in front of goal and creating chances became an issue when the team were struggling to find the back of the net.
With Sarri now gone and the appointment of Derby County manager Frank Lampard believed to be close, Kovacic has come back to Chelsea on a permanent deal with a point to prove, and it will be interesting to see how the Croatian will fit into Lampard’s plans, particularly with the Blues now competing in the Champions League.
Last season, with Chelsea playing every game with a 4-3-3 formation, Kovacic played most of his games on the left of the three, alongside N’Golo Kante on the right and fellow summer signing Jorginho slightly deeper.
With Kovacic, Barkley and Loftus-Cheek providing something different to the left centre midfield role, no one really held down the position consistently, though the Croatian was often preferred in the bigger games, due to his greater defensive capabilities.
The biggest issue, however, for the Croatian came in the final third, as with Kante and Jorginho, goals were lacking from midfield, in which Kovacic failed to chip in with a single goal all campaign. While not his primary responsibility, it did mean that games often passed him by, and always seemed to be the go-to player to be subbed off, particularly with Barkley and Loftus-Cheek both eager to impress.
One thing to consider about next season is that a change in formation and style of play is likely: Maurizio Sarri is a manager famed for his rigid approach to tactics and was hired in order to get the team playing in an attacking, passing-based style, and it was always unlikely for him to experiment with different formations. As his replacement, it is yet to be seen whether Frank Lampard will replicate this style or change it, maybe to the 4-2-3-1 formation that he played at Derby last campaign.
I feel like this would favour Kovacic, with his strengths as a midfielder would be better suited to being in a pivot midfield, especially if he is partnered there with N’Golo Kante. Last season, despite what was a pretty strong campaign overall, Jorginho often found himself overrun in the bigger games, particularly in the away games in the league against Manchester City and Tottenham where he was man-marked out of the match, and the best option for Chelsea will probably be for Kovacic to come into the team for these games, while the Italian starts the games where the Blues will be the most dominant in possession.
Kovacic will also be a good asset as the club return to the Champions League next season, with the Croatian having good previous success in the competition, winning the trophy three times during his time at Real Madrid. In games against difficult competition, that are bound to come in Europe this season, it’s good to have options in midfield that allow a different approach to how the team would normally play every week in the Premier League, which Kovacic can offer as a better alternative than the other midfielders at the club.
Speaking of the midfield competition at Chelsea, it is arguably the strongest position that they have in terms of depth, with all the midfielders from last season likely remaining at the club for the upcoming campaign.
Added to this, there will be even more options for Lampard to pick from, with Tiemoue Bakayoko and Mason Mount returning back from their loan spells, and a chance for Ethan Ampadu and Danny Drinkwater to be drafted back in from the sidelines.
Personally speaking, the best thing for Lampard to do with this midfield is to keep the first choice midfield from the end of last season (Kante, Jorginho and Loftus-Cheek) as his most used trio, and look at who can replace Loftus-Cheek until he returns from injury.
The ‘back-up midfield’ for cup games should then be Bakayoko and Kovacic in the pivot with Ross Barkley or Mount ahead of them, with Kovacic and Jorginho swapping out for one another during the games against the top six. And while this current crop of midfielders is hardly the calibre of players that Chelsea have had in the recent past, I think it is strong enough to see us through the season until we can sign players again next summer, if they are used correctly and efficiently by Lampard, who as one of the finest midfielders of his generation, I have faith that he will be able to do that.
£40 million is a lot of money for Mateo Kovacic, and even though I doubt Chelsea would have forked out that kind of money on him if we had been able to go for other players this summer, the attitude, ambition and drive I saw from the Croatian last season makes one think that his signing was a risk worth taking, and here’s hoping that he can deliver a good campaign for the Blues this season, and many more to come.
